Gordon Whitworth Cornet
Norman Field Clarinet, Alto Sax C-Melody Sax
Ron Hills Trombone
John Penn Piano
Terry McGrath Sousaphone, Bass Sax
Nick Ward Drums
A tribute to Bix Beiderbecke.
The band came dressed for the part in full evening dress, as bands always did in Bix’s day, and with authentic period instrumentation; true, they didn’t have electric pianos then, but every dance hall and club possessed a piano. In venues today if there is a piano at all, it’s often badly tuned so – bring your own. The programme came from the sides made by Bix in his six year recording career, most of them as a member of someone else’s band.
Being a tribute, the originals, especially the Beiderbecke-Trumbauer interaction were followed fairly closely with restrained, lyrical cornet, dextrous reed playing and adeptly balanced trombone backed by a truly period sounding rhythm section complete with timely use of the woodblocks by Nick and sousaphone and bass sax which must have needed the lung capacity of a Grand National winner!
Tune after tune captured the spirit of the all too short time before Bix’s sad demise and, with the enlightening commentaries from Gordon and Norman, promoted greater appreciation of the influence which those few years had on future generations of trumpeters.
We learnt that Bix had a great fondness for the piano and composed a number of pieces for the instrument but only made one solo recording, In a Mist, which John now played to a slightly bemused audience; not jazz but another aspect of the man’s musicality and fleetingly reminiscent of some wistful classical piece.
Another of Bix’s compositions, Davenport Blues, was beautifully done by Gordon with just John backing on piano and, the accord with Frankie Trumbauer was epitomised by the classic rendering of Singin’ the Blues with Gordon and Norman splendidly playing their parts.
The initial restraint seemed to lift slightly as time went on (drinks having been taken by band and audience) and by the final number, Clarinet Marmalade, the music was as hot as any in a 1920s dance hall. So we had music from a very narrow period in jazz eighty years ago brought to us by a dedicated and very proficient band who made it sound as fresh as the day it was first played.
Truly a lesson in jazz history
Peter Farrell
